Hoʻōla Lāhui Society Book Conservation Project

The Hoʻōla Lāhui Society record book contains the organizational records of a nineteenth-century benevolent society in Hawaiʻi. This society dedicated itself to helping those who were sick or destitute. Among the records within the volume were some related to the Kalaupapa leprosy settlement, and the society’s efforts to assist Father Damien in providing for its residents.

Before treatment – Staining evident where acidic adhesive is used to attach sheets to paper stubs.

The volume was in the form of an adhesive stub file, in which individual sheets were glued to narrow paper stubs. Documents varied in paper type, color, size, and weight. While some pages were handwritten in pencil or colored inks, others were printed or typed. Oversized sheets were folded over and pasted down. Documents exhibited tears and paper loss, insect damage, foxing, and acidic transfer.

The volume was sent to Venice, Florida for treatment by paper conservator, J. Franklin Mowery. He carefully detached sheets from paper stubs and removed residual adhesive. He deacidified each sheet and mended and stabilized torn pages. After placing each sheet in a custom-designed Mylar sleeve, he bound all sleeves in three post-binders. To document his work, he created digital files of each page before and after conservation treatment.

Before treatment – Many of the sheets exhibited tears and some paper loss.

After ten and a half months of conservation treatment, and after having survived Hurricane Irma, the documents of the Hoʻōla Lāhui Society returned to the provincial archives. They are now available for on-site viewing by students and scholars.

After treatment –Stabilized sheets are encapsulated in protective Mylar sleeves and bound for easy viewing.